Joiners and leavers
Maingate Shipping arranges crew changes at Banjul for owners, managers and crewing agencies: immigration formalities, airport meet and transfer through Banjul International Airport, launches where the vessel lies at anchor, and hotels when flights and vessels do not line up. Our partner agent at the port attends the movement under Maingate's instruction; the Mombasa desk plans and reports.
For vessels calling Banjul, the crew change is planned before the cargo is: flights are held until the ETA is firm, immigration is pre-notified, and the joining crew are met at Banjul International Airport and taken to the gangway or the launch. Where the vessel will not be entering the port, the desk advises whether the change is better made here or at the next port on the route.
The port's geography matters: the mouth of the Gambia River at Banjul. So does the fact that a small port where a single vessel can occupy the working berth, so arrival timing is agreed against the port's own line-up.
Every movement is confirmed in writing before the seafarer travels and reported promptly it happens.
Banjul International Airport is the door for crew at Banjul. The desk's driver waits at arrivals with the vessel's name, walks the joiners through immigration on the pre-notification already filed, and brings them to the port gate or the launch. For leavers, the same driver collects them at the gangway and sees them through immigration and check-in.
Nobody buys a ticket until the vessel's schedule is firm; the desk holds options and rebooks when the ETA moves, which it usually does.
Immigration at Banjul expects the crew list showing joiners and leavers, passports with adequate validity, seaman's books or seafarer identity documents, and the agent's letter of guarantee. Nationalities that need a visa are pre-notified or obtain it in advance where the rules require; the desk confirms the current position for each crew list rather than relying on a matrix that may be out of date.
Shore passes for crew going ashore during the call and gate passes for the agent's vehicle are issued through the port.
The last mile at Banjul is the gangway or the launch. Alongside, the boarding officer walks the crew through the gate. At anchor, the launch goes out in daylight with the joiners and comes back with the leavers, and the desk confirms the ladder, the lee side and the timing with the master before it sails.
Where the vessel is not entering port, the desk advises whether an off-port-limits change is workable at Banjul or better made at the next port on the route. Hotels near the port are used when flights land after the last launch.
Sick or injured crew are taken to hospital with an agent's representative, the owner and the P&I club are informed promptly, and repatriation with a medical escort is arranged when the doctor allows travel. Replacement seafarers are arranged in parallel from Kenya through our crewing desk so that the vessel does not sail short.
Every movement is reported to the owner with the times, the names and the costs, and the receipts follow in the DA.
Who changes crew at Banjul: general cargo ships, container feeders and small tankers, in the trades of rice, sugar, fuel and building materials inbound, with groundnuts and cashew outbound. Their rotations differ, so the desk asks the manager for the rotation calendar and works from it, rather than treating every movement as a surprise.
Berth or anchorage decides the last mile; Banjul's working areas are the general cargo and container quay run by the ports authority, with river craft serving the interior.
The crew list marked with joiners and leavers, valid passports, seaman's books or seafarer identity documents, the agent's letter of guarantee and, for some nationalities, a visa obtained in advance or pre-notified for arrival.
The desk confirms with the port and the launch operator; where it is not workable the change is planned for the berth or the next port.
Through Banjul International Airport, with the desk meeting joiners on arrival and seeing leavers through immigration and check-in.
The desk books a hotel near the port, keeps the crew informed, and moves them to the vessel as soon as she is alongside or at anchor.
One instruction, one account, one contact for the master and one for the principal.
Desks that usually follow a Banjul crew change.
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Maingate Shipping Limited · Express Building, Moi Avenue, Mombasa, Kenya · ops@maingateshipping.com · +254 784 622 091